Chuck Cooper, Who Defended Prop 8, Withdraws From Consideration As Solicitor General

By

Carlos Santoscoy

|
February 10, 2017

Chuck Cooper on Thursday withdrew his
name from consideration to be the next solicitor general.

According to POLITICO, Cooper announced
his decision in a statement.

“I am deeply honored by any
consideration that I may have received by Attorney General Sessions
and President Trump for appointment as the Solicitor General, but I
have asked them to discontinue any further consideration of me for
that critically important position,” Cooper said.

“After witnessing the treatment that
my friend Jeff Sessions, a decent and honorable man who bears only
good will and good cheer to everyone he meets, had to endure at the
hands of a partisan opposition that will say anything and do anything
to advance their political interests, I am unwilling to subject
myself, my family, and my friends to such a process,” he
added.

The White House was considering Cooper
for the post along with George T. Conway, the husband of Trump
adviser Kellyanne Conway.

Cooper is best known for leading the
legal team that unsuccessfully defended California's Proposition 8
before the Supreme Court. Approved by voters in 2008, Proposition 8
limited marriage in the state to heterosexual couples.